By Calvin Biesecker
The Obama administration’s choice for the number two position at the Department of Homeland Security has broad management expertise with complex issues and has demonstrated a willingness to tackle difficult cultural challenges at head of peacekeeping operations at the United Nations, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I/D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said last week.
Lieberman, whose panel took up the nomination of Jane Holl Lute to be the deputy homeland security secretary, also said that Lute has been forthright in investigating cultural problems at the U.N., in particular instances where peacekeepers have sexually exploited the citizens of countries they are supposed to be protecting.
The Senate committee will consider Lute’s nomination on Wednesday. Lute was questioned intensely by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) about her role in directing a $250 million no-bid contract to a business unit of Lockheed Martin [LMT] in 2007 in support of peacekeeping operations in Darfur. Lute has acknowledged pushing for the award to not be competed and said last week that was a one-time event.
However, Coburn, citing internal U.N. watchdog reports of procurement abuse as well as slowness on the part of the U.N. to respond to allegations of sexual misconduct by its peacekeepers in certain regions of the world, questioned Lute’s management credentials. Coburn submitted questions for Lute to answer for the committee before consideration of her nomination on Wednesday.
Ranking committee member Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), also questioned Lute about the no-bid contract to Lockheed Martin, citing the U.N. Office of Internal Overight Services report on the matter as being critical of her office’s role in the award. Lute said that some of the criticisms leveled in the report are not justified and noted that there were no other no-bid contracts awarded that she had a part in.